The Mark and Bonnie Porter home overlooking Stagecoach Reservoir from 53 acres above Routt County Road 14 was auctioned Wednesday for $4.62 million. The home is best known for its indoor swimming pool, which is set in a room lined with stone under a vaulted ceiling.

13,000-square-foot Routt County home auctioned for $4.6 million

Steamboat Springs  Editor's note: This story was updated at 9 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 21 to clarify the terms of the auction.

A 13,753-square-foot, seven-bedroom home overlooking Stagecoach Reservoir from Henderson Park Road was auctioned Wednesday for $4.63 million plus a 10 percent buyer’s premium pushing the final price to more than $5 million, much less than the $9.8 million previously listed asking price.

Stephan Baden, of Re/Max Partners in Steamboat Springs, represented a client in the bidding and said about nine people, three or four of them on the phone, were bidding on the home, which includes a large indoor swimming pool.

The home originally was built in 1994 by J.P. Lipson, who died tragically in 2008 when he was murdered in his Beverly Hills home.

It was sold to current owners Mark and Bonnie Porter for $3.95 million in 2001. They made substantial additions including the pool, which is housed in a stone-lined room with a vaulted ceiling and large, multipane windows.

The home has nine bathrooms and six fireplaces. There also is a caretaker’s unit.

In order to take part, bidders at the auction were required to produce a $100,000 cashier’s check made out in their names representing earnest money.

“At first, some people submitted some written open bids, $2 million, $2.5 million,” Baden said. “Then it got up to $3.25 million very quickly and worked its way to $4 million when it started slowing down pretty dramatically.”

Baden said his client dropped out in the vicinity of $3.9 million.

The auctioneer was able to move the price up by offering to include most of the furniture in the home, a membership at Christie Club at the base of Steamboat Ski Area and a Bobcat skid steer with a snow removal attachment.

Ultimately, a bidder who was present in the home made the winning bid, Baden said.

Auction officials said Realtor Darlinda Baldinger of Steamboat Village Brokers represented the buyer.

Wednesday’s auction price represents a per-square-foot price of about $336 without considering the value of the land.

The auction was handled by Grand Estates Auction Co. Grand Estates CEO Val DeVine said Thursday that the $100,000 auction registration commitment required of the successful buyer would be applied to the 10 percent buyers’ fee of nearly $500,000 and is nonrefundable, making it a certainty that the sale will close. The terms of the auction require that the purchase must close within 30 days.